Clarification

I've had a few questions, such as, "What does your dad do?" "Why is he going on that trip?" and "Who are those alumni that he's visiting?"

To be explicit:

Cabell Tutwiler is a veteran teacher at ESA. A scholarship fund has recently been created by the school entitled The Tate/Tutwiler Scholarship Fund, which honors both dad and Dr. and Mrs. Tate (also long term teachers). Dad is taking a year-long sabbatical for the purpose of adventure and to raise money for the fund so that more worthy but underfunded students can all enjoy the amazing experience that the rest of us alums have had. And he's planning on going to EVERY SINGLE alumnus' house/apartment/boat/tent. (And apparently there are two in Alaska, and as he said, "Katie, since we're going to Seattle anyway, it's really not that far of a drive to Alaska." And I thought to myself, "Oh boy, in a school bus. Didn't I recently see a movie about a boy who lived in a school bus in Alaska and died a miserable, cold death?"

So consider yourself warned.

Oh and when I asked him where we'd be staying, he said that it would be shameful if we weren't put up by the same people that we're going to be squeezing money out of.

PS. Really glad I spell checked.

ESA, the Outing Club, and the Bus

A little explanation:

ESA is the Episcopal School of Acadiana: a small, private school that tranquilly rests beneath the shade of live oaks amidst sugar cane fields in Cade, Louisiana. It currently consists of a lower, middle, and upper school.

The Bus belongs to the ESA Outing Club, an organization that takes students on a variety of outdoorsy adventures, including canoeing, kayaking, biking, hiking, and sometimes, when all things go wrong, gas station hopping. These range from weekend trips to nearby states to epic month long summer trips out west. The club is run by dad, thus him taking the bus.

Dad aka Mr. Tutwiler aka Cabell is the head of the English department and has been teaching at the school almost since its inception in 1979. Some of the basic facts about him, which all students know, which may or may not be true: He loves moon pies and RC Cola (HELLO FIRST ENDORSEMENTS!), once shot his television, and quite often dresses in drag for Halloween.

The BUS or bad news bears: I'm not entirely sure when the Outing Club got its grimy hands on this bus, but over the years there have been many transformations. However, I'll merely try to explain the bus as it exists today. The interior consists of three segments.

1) The front section still somewhat resembles a typical school bus with seats and a floor and a place for the driver. These seats only go about three rows deep. From this point to the back of the bus, all the seats have been removed.

2) The middle is an open area that is good for setting up a social seating zone with camping chairs, ice chests, and sofa cushions taken from unsuspecting parents. Here students can adequately play cards and make lunches.

3) The back is for storage and napping or prostrate reading. Some genius of engineering rigged up a wooden loft for these dual purposes. Below, the bus can be loaded from the back with all the gear necessary for the trip. Above, the wood is padded with gym mats and old moldy pillows for the passengers who lie at about window level.

Throughout, the bus is decorated with paintings by students, book shelves, and whatever other found objects that the members have decided are fitting.

Exterior: the top of the bus has been outfitted with a custom roof rack than can hold the major equipment that goes along on these trips, often canoes and rafts. The sides of the bus are painted as well (I see hand prints and western vistas when I close my eyes). Above all, the pride and joy of this bus is the cow skull strapped to the front grill.

For next time, a tale of bus function..........

Who needs school or money, anyway?

Every so often, several events will line up to create a perfect storm. Or in this case, a family vacation in a distant land. The first thing that happened was sometime last year, my dad decided to take a sabbatical to ride his bicycle around the country. Now this is no Walter Anderson girl bike. He had a specially made big dummy bicycle that can easily hold saddlebags. There's also a piece of wood that rests behind the cyclist that can be stood on like a surf board.

The second thing that happened is my little sister found out she had to have surgery on her ACL again. She lives in Missoula, Montana, which oddly enough, has one of the best knee doctors in the country. She set a date for June 23 (I think) and dad decided that he'd drive up to Missoula, help her with her recovery, then start the trip from Missoula. Of course mom decided that she had to be there as well. Then my older sister and her husband hopped on board too. That just left me.

And I'm trying to finish up this MBA program and make money in the meantime. But is it really worth missing out on a family adventure? No. And in fact, I decided to spend the entire summer providing vehicular assistance to dad on the bike trip.

Here's what I know so far: We're driving a dying school bus with all the stuff we want (canoes, rafts, bikes, kayaks, camping gear, any friends who want to join) from Louisiana to Montana, and we'll take a couple of weeks to get up there. We'll hang out in Missoula with Isabelle until she feels that she can get around on her own. Then we're heading either east or west from there to visit every ESA alumnus on the way, while taking time to visit national parks, sights of interest, microbreweries, etc. I'll be heading back to Louisiana in early August to start up school again, while dad continues on his journey. But everything could change.